Has anyone been told they are anemic not as in low number of red blood cells but the size of them? I am a Gulf War vet and have always been suspicious of any symptoms I have had. After a long bout with excessive fatigue I had blood work done, everything was normal but this.

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My dad has also been having night sweats. They have run so many tests on him. I think they are looking for a chronic illness to explain the anemia, night sweats and headaches but everything keeps coming back clean.
He has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now. They are giving him tylonel and morphine to control the headaches. The tylonel works for about 6 hours but after the 6 hours are up, the headache returns in the exact same spot. He says that it feels like his head is going to explode.
His doctor said that the red blood cells look like they are shrinking and he has never seen this before. They let my dad out of the hospital for the weekend and told him it was okay to drive. He was driving and got dizzy and almost passed out. Fortunately he as able to pull over. My mom called for help and they admitted him back into the hospital immediately.
I think he needs to see a blood specialist. He is currently seeing an internist/internalist. The doctor has been great but he seems stumped but what is happening to my dad. The only test that had abnormal results was a bone scan on his head. It has abnormal activity which they thought was inflammation. They did an MRI next and it showed nothing. They have taken bone marrow and that came back clean too.
Can anyone help?

My dad is a janitor/custodian for the school board. He uses all sorts of chemicals when he cleans. He was also in St. Lucia at a walk in volcano where he was breathing really heavy because for some off reason he thought the volcano ash would help his cough. It is probably stupid but I thought I should mention it.
I think I mentioned that his cranial bone scan had abnormal activity so they thought an infection would show up on the MRI but it did not. He is currently waiting to see a nuerologist and I think they are planning to do some sort of biopsy. They were also going to exlore something called Whipple's Disease which I think is a malabsorption disease that may be effecting his bodies ability to absorb nutrients.
He has been seeing an interist. The interist has been great but and getting all sorts of tests done very quickly. We have ruled all sorts of stuff out but not come to any sort of firm conclusion. It is getting very frustrating. What would you suggest.

Does the abnormal bone scan on his head make sense with chemical poisoning? The doctor said the bone builds up and breaksdown continually and my dad's is doing it more than it should - hence them thinking he has inflammation or infection. Problem is the MRI does not confirm this. They think his anemia (shrink cells are a result of what is going on up there). However, they haven't confirmed anything. He is still waiting to see the neurosurgeon. He has also been admitted back in to the hospital because of his headaches. They are now giving him shots of demerol. He had some sort of test where they went down his throat to look at his stomach and they are doing a spinal tap tomorrow. There can't be too many more tests that they can run on him. I have spoken to my dad and asked him to ask the doctor about the chemical poisoning. Someone else has suggested to my dad that he request to see a hemotologist.

I am 26 years old I have had the same thing with the small red blood cells for 2 years now the doctor told me I am so anemic that my body has compansated by making smaller cells in the right amount of quanity instead of normal size cells in a smaller quanitity. He told me that can happen when you are anemic for too long. I am not sure about other diseases and conditions that could be underlying this is just my experience.

hi, I was just informed by my dr, that I had the right amount of blood cells they are small. She thought it is just in the Genes, I thought this was proably why I stay so tired. Any word on this problem?

hello, I am new to this board.. I was doing a search for topics that had "small red blood cells" and this came up, so i registered. I have small red blood cells and since the DR, has no advice for me as to why, i thought i might look it up. There is a genetic disease that runs in my family and thougth maybe it might have something to do with that.. the disease is called. Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency . I've always had the small red blood cells . Anyone ever heard of someone having small red blood cells because of some other reason, other than being around war? I'm 26 , have two kids, never been out of the country...

Hi--
I was also doing a search about Small red blood cells and have been reading everyones posts.
I have been going through MANY tests for a couple of months now, all starting because of extreme fatigue. The DR says i have microcytosis (small red blood cells) but I get very little info. He has started me on Iron and B12 but is still running continuos tests -- like 4 ultrasounds (abdominal, renal, and 2 pelvis) and now I have been having severe headaches so he's added a CAT scan and referring me to a neurologist. I'm so confused because he does not seem alarmed, yet with all these tests it seems he's looking for something. I thought the diagnosis of microcytosis was IT!

ITHERK -- I am very interested in how your dad is doing. I don't know how oldall these posts are.

I was not in the Gulf War but I was just told my red blood cells are small after my most recent blood test. So I have to be retested. Last time I went to give blood I was turned down because of low iron.

My Dad just had this happen over the weekend. Not only did he have low red blood count and low hemoglobin (severe anemia), he also had small red blood cells. His Iron was at 11 - when normal iron is between 75 and 200. His B12 was 3 to 6 times what it normally should be. Now, the small cells can be indicative of lead poisoning. My Dad is also a Vet - but from around the Cuban Missile Crisis ('59 - '63). He chipped paint like crazy when he was in the Navy, so that may be the most logical reason. They gave him 4 pints of blood in transfusion - but that is only going to last so long. It got him close to normal. Hey Doug - I'm not sure if you check this, but you might want to look at Endocarditis. It has symptoms of the night sweats and stuff. I believe you. A friend of mine was in the Persian Gulf War and has started to have some problems.